PRASHANT MAHADEO CHAVAN Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Appellant was tried for offences punishable under Sections 302 and 304(B) of the Penal Code. The charge against the Appellant is that he had caused the death of his wife on 2nd January, 2004 by hanging her by the neck with a nylon rope which was tied to the pipe of a ceiling fan. The Appellant and five other accused (consisting of his two brothers, two sisters and mother) were also tried for offences punishable under Section 498A read with Section 34 of the Penal Code. All the accused have been acquitted of the charge under Section 498A read with Section 34 and the Appellant has also been acquitted of the offence punishable under Section 304B.

(2.) The Appellant was married to Sakshi on 31st May, 2001. Sakshi was a graduate and was employed as a Computer Operator at the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam. On 13th December, 2002 Sakshi delivered a baby girl. On 6th March, 2003 the Appellant took his wife and the child back to the matrimonial home. Sakshi resumed work on 1st April, 2003. Matrimonial disputes had arisen between the Appellant and his wife and some time in the month of April, 2003 a compromise was arrived at through the uncle of the Appellant. In August 2003 the Appellant took premises on leave and license into which he and Sakshi moved together with the new born. The premises were situated at Nagari Niwara Parishad at Goregaon (East). In December, 2003 a procedure for the medical termination of pregnancy was carried out on Sakshi. 2nd January, 2004 happened to be a Friday which was a weekly holiday for the Appellant. There were four tenements on the floor of the building where the Appellant resided of which two were vacant. Apart from the tenement which was occupied by the Appellant and his family, the immediately adjoining tenement was in the occupation of a family which had engaged Bhavana Rathod (P.W.5) as a domestic help. At 10.30 a.m. the Appellant knocked on the door of the adjoining tenement. P.W.5 Bhavana was alone, her employers having gone to work. The Appellant informed P.W.5 that Sakshi had hung herself. P.W.5 accompanied the Appellant to his house and found that Sakshi was hanging by a nylon rope from the ceiling fan. Her feet were on the floor. P.W. 5 went down to the second floor to call a neighbour Sarika Chaphekar, and took her upstairs.

(3.) The prosecution examined eleven witnesses. P.W.1 Sanjay was the complainant and the brother of the victim; P.W.2 Meena was the sister of the victim while P.W.3 Ramchandra was the father of the victim. P.W. 4 Anant More was a Panch witness to the inquest Panchanama. P.W. 5 Bhavana was the neighbour of the accused. P.W. 6 Susan was a colleague at the work place of the victim. P.W. 7 Dr. R.M. Bellurkar was the Medical Officer at the Nursing Home. P.W. 8 Dr. Patil was initially summoned to examine the victim. P.W.9 Gawde was the Investigating Officer. P.W. 10 Dr. Sanap conducted the postmortem. P.W.11 Agarkar was also the Investigating Officer. The defence examined six witnesses, among them D.W. 6 Ravindra Yadav upon whose testimony a plea of alibi was sought to be set up by the Appellant.